Fears about an American deficit in science and technical know-how have erupted regularly since World War II, Teitelbaum observes. Often they produce a boom in demand and supply, followed by a bust. Interest in science and engineering courses arose after the 1957 Sputnik launch, which raised public concerns that the Soviet Union’s technical capability was surpassing America’s. By the 1970s, when many of these inspired students were deeply into their doctoral or post-doc careers, they were discovering that demand for their skills had disappeared. An entire generation “had been told that this was a great national emergency, that we needed scientists,” the chairman of MIT’s physics department lamented at the time. “Now they are out on the street and naturally they feel cheated.” California aerospace workers in the 1980s and high-tech engineers after the dot-com collapse in 2000 felt the same dizzying sensation.

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by Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: August 1st, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.